This is a Microsoft Official Course (MOC) and includes Microsoft courseware and hands-on labs. This course is aimed at database professionals who manage Business Intelligence (BI) operations. This course looks at various options that provide the ability of business users to analyze data and share their findings, starting with managed BI data sources and expanding to personal and external/public data sources.

The primary audience for this course are business intelligence professionals.The secondary audiences for this course are technically proficient business users.

Microsoft Official Courses On-Demand (MOC On-Demand) uses a combination of streaming video, text, lab exercises and assessment checks throughout the course. MOC On-Demand courses are available for 90 days and recommend the following system requirements:

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Course Overview

Module 1: Introduction to Operational Management in BI Solutions

Operational management of BI solutions is on the increase. An organization’s need for information, coupled with the timely delivery of this information, means that IT departments are placing as much emphasis on operational frameworks to support BI solutions, as they are on the development outcomes. With the development of BI solutions complete, the right processes and people should be in place to ensure that the solution delivers. You should also use supporting technologies to ensure smooth operations. Furthermore, developing a supporting logging and troubleshooting framework can aid the debugging and resolution of BI issues. The aforementioned are brought together within a single operational management framework that enables a cohesive and proactive approach to managing the BI solution in the production environment. It also ensures the continued operation of the solution, while providing a structured approach to solving BI issues.

Lessons

Rationale for BI Operations

Roles in BI Operations

Technologies Used in BI Operations

Environment and Operational Standards

Labs

Roles in BI Operations

Using Term Explorer in Visual Studio

After completing this module, you will be able to:

Describe the rationale for BI operations

Describe roles in BI operations

Describe the technologies used in BI operations

Describe environments and operational standards.

Module 2: Configuring BI Components

The correct configuration of the BI components within the SQL Server product stack will have a big impact on the stability and performance of the overall BI solution. Configuring components by using best practice will enable the BI operations team to rule out the data platform as a root cause of issues that occur within the environment. Defining standards for server builds can help the effectiveness of the team to resolve issues in a known configured environment. Equally, understanding the type of architecture that a BI solution is implemented in will drive the standards for a given architecture.

Lessons

The Importance of Standardized Builds

Configuration Considerations for BI Technologies

BI Architectures

SharePoint BI Environments

Labs

Standardizing the Data Platform

Configuring the Operating System

Configuring the Database Engine

Configuring Reporting Services

After completing this module, you will be able to:

Describe the importance of standardized builds

Describe the configuration considerations for BI technologies

Describe BI architectures

Describe SharePoint BI environments

Module 3: Managing Business Intelligence Security

Managing the security of data within an organization should be the first priority for any operational team. Not only could the ramifications of a data leak lead to commercial losses, but there may also be legal and financial penalties that could have wider implications for the business. It is very important that the business intelligence (BI) operations team takes a holistic approach to securing the data. Considerations should include the physical security of the data, in addition to protection at an operating system or SQL Server level. Transfer of data to other sites and data at rest may have to be protected. In these cases, encryption components come into play. Meeting compliance requirements may force a business to track activity on SQL Servers, or provide access to data by using auditing.

Lessons

Security Approach to BI Solutions

Security Components

Security Approach for BI Components

The Security Approach in Different BI Environments

Labs

Setting up Security in SQL Server

Setting up Security in SQL Server Analysis Services

Setting up Security in SQL Server Reporting Services

After completing this module, you will be able to:

Describe the security approach to a BI solution

Understand the security components available

Apply the security components to BI technologies

Manage security in different environments

Module 4: Deploying BI Solutions

Deploying BI solutions is a discrete part of the BI development life cycle. The BI operations team will be called upon to support the development team during the deployment. The aim is to successfully create the solution within a production environment for operational use. The presence of nonproduction environments provides the opportunity to practice the deployments before they are conducted on a production server, so that the deployments can run smoothly. A variety of tools and practices can be used to aid deployments. Each method has its own benefits and can be used in any environment. Understanding the tools that are available and the benefits they offer will help you to pick the right tool for the job and aid deployment.

Lessons

Application Life Cycle Management for BI Solution

Stand-Alone Deployments

Team-Based Deployments

Labs

Creating a Standalone DACPAC

Managing Builds in Team Foundation Server

Exploring Deployment Methods

After completing this module, students will be able to:

Application life cycle management for BI solutions

Stand-alone deployments

Team-based deployments.

Module 5: Logging and Monitoring in BI Operations

The main aim of any operations team is to ensure the continued service of key applications that are used within the business, more organizations are seeing a BI solution as a critical application for ensuring success. Therefore, the BI operations team should implement a proactive approach to overseeing the general health of the servers and services that are being used. This will involve employing a number of technologies that can log the operations of a service to proactively manage any potential problems that are identified. There will be times when the BI operations team will have to be reactive, using monitoring tools to help identify the root cause of any potential issues.

Lessons

The Need for Logging and Monitoring

Logging Options

Monitoring Options

Setting Up Alerts

Labs

Setting Up General Logging and Monitoring

Setting Up Targeted Logging and Monitoring

After completing this module, you will be able to:

Describe the need for logging and monitoring

Use various logging options

Use monitoring tools

Set up notifications.

Module 6: Troubleshooting BI Solutions

The task of trying to troubleshoot failed BI solutions can be complex. It requires an understanding of the environments in which the BI solution is hosted, and an understanding of the workloads that take place during the life cycle of the solution. Troubleshooting can be made easier if the BI operations team has established defined standards for different tiers of servers for the configuration, security, and deployment of the solution. Standards create a baseline environment for the servers and the solution so that the BI operations team have a clear understanding of the environment that they are troubleshooting. With this in place, when an issue is reported to the operations team, they can adopt a structured troubleshooting approach that means they can resolve the issue, and understand the root cause - this leads to a long-term fix. As these issues are occurring within live environments, it is prudent to follow a process that is in line with operational procedures, so that you set the expectations for resolving an issue. This will typically involve applying a fix that follows either standard operating procedures or emergency operating procedures.

Lessons

Troubleshoot Failed BI Solutions

Troubleshooting the Data Warehouse

Troubleshooting SQL Server Analysis Services

Troubleshooting SQL Server Reporting Services

Labs

Troubleshooting Data Warehouse Loads

Troubleshooting SQL Server Analysis Services

At the end of this module, you will know the correct approach for troubleshooting:

Failed BI solutions

Data Warehouse

Analysis Services

Reporting Services

Module 7: Performance Tuning BI Queries

In this course, you have seen many of the operational activities that take place in an organization - they will often lead to the provision of a long-term solution to an issue that has been occurring in a BI environment. Sometimes, however, changes to resolve an issue that are made by the BI operations team, such as optimizing the BI platform, may not have the desired results. When the BI operations team are satisfied that they have exhausted all areas in attempting to resolve an issue, they might need to work with the development team to look at tuning the query aspects of the BI solution to improve performance. Many BI operations make extensive use of queries, and it might be necessary to look at these queries in more depth to improve performance. The BI operations team would also have to discuss taking advantage of BI component features to help in performance. For example, a suggestion might be made that Reporting Services snapshots could be used to help performance. However, the development team would need consulting to understand the impact of using such functionality on the overall solution.

Lessons

The Need for Performance Tuning

BI Queries to Performance Tune

Tools for Performance Tuning

Remediating Performance Issues

Labs

Performance Tuning BI Queries

Exploring SQL Server Query Store

Remediating Performance Issues

After completing this module, you will be able to:

Understand the need for performance tuning

Describe the BI queries required to carry out performance tuning

Use the tools for performance tuning

Remediate performance problems

Course Schedule

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